high as a kite by then

this is for the post, and some of aiden's post after this, but one or two mature themes... nothing sexy-like. just some drugs and stuff, but it's not super bad/recognized in great detail.

Sneaking out of the main castle corridors had been easier than he expected, but he had a larger disturbance in the dungeons to thank for such a moment of freedom. With a bag in hand at his side and his other free hand occupied by a glowing bit of some rolled paper, the young man worked his way up the outside, snow-covered stairs toward the Owlry. Surely it was a place of peace amidst this time of peril and pure chaos, at least he continued to hope so. As he brought the lit object to his lips, he drew in a bit of the smoke it was producing and suddenly felt a rush of warmth over his chilled body. As his lungs filled with the hazard, Aiden could feel his nerves calming more and more by the second. With each step he took closer to the inside of the Owlry, Mr. Marrone could feel himself separating from reality slowly but surely. Clad in a rather thick wool coat, he had made sure to button it all the way up his chest to his neck before exiting the warmth of the Slytherin common room with his dragonweed and two bottles of firewhiskey. The snow was still falling rather steadily and the centaurs were still patrolling around the castle and yet he could not find a reason to avoid any sort of leisure activity- especially since the authority figures who guard against his habits were nowhere to be found. Grinning to himself as he remembered such a fact, the bundled up boy made his way through the open-aired room.

He journeyed through the rafters to find his spot. It was a place he had made for himself with some blankets, a bunch of candles, a pillow or two, and a few of his empty bottles of liquor. It was back away from the owls and their disgusting environment; he had managed to clean up his area and preserve it as so for the majority of his sixth and seventh years at the school. It was a safe haven for him, somewhere no one else had ever found. It was somewhere he could sit, drink, and smoke, with out a disturbance.

Quickly he settled down into the spot against the wall and spread some of the blankets over himself as he sat atop another just after placing the joint between his lips and his bottles on the ground beside of him. Taking in another draw of air and smoke, the boy allowed it to linger in his lungs for a long moment. Closing his eyes, he had already started seeing silly things- the inside of his eyelids turning into a canvas of different, moving colors; he was already beginning to enjoy the night. He dug through the bag and grabbed the bottle he had already been taking sips out of and screw the top off of it. Holding the half-empty bottle up toward the moon, he raised a toast to the sky. "Here is to nothing but me, this joint, this bottle, and a night of good fun between old mates," Removing his half-smoked joint, he pressed his opened lips against the bottle and took a rather large gulp of liquid. As it coursed down his throat, every joint, muscle, and bone with in him suddenly felt warm; the snow and the chilled air were to have no affect on his body at the moment. Aiden felt numb and free from the restrictions of reality and that was just what he had intended.

He alternated between smokes and swigs for a long while, as he stared up at the blanket of stars from his position against the wall, sheltered from falling snowflakes. The images around him were beginning to morph into shapes and things he only ever managed to witness and recognize in this same state, time and time before. They did not mock him, nor did they cause him to shudder; Aiden easily welcomed them to join him in his time of loneliness and joy.

His mind still wandered onto the thoughts of his own stupidity under such mental conditions, even though he had hoped such a state would do nothing but induce his mind into an altered state of which he would not find any sort of memories for the time being. It never failed him, though, and he cursed Merlin each time as well, for his brought him back to a time when he had hurt someone he could say he had loved. Love was too strong of a word for the Slytherin, but he had known that had been the exact emotion he had been feeling in the months that he had spent with Johanna. Shaking his head from side to side nearly too violently, Aiden had failed at erasing the images of her brilliant, beautiful face but succeeded at stirring his dual-buzz. Resting his head against the wooden wall, Mr. Marrone groaned slightly. If he had simply stopped this ridiculous behavior he would still have her; if he had listened to her, he would still be able to see her and hold her.... he would still be able to call her his. With out hesitation and the chance to allow himself to curse aloud and draw any attention to the area, the boy finished off his blunt with a very long draw. A minor cough pushed the smoke from his lungs and throat as he put it out on the floor.

A sound stopped him from moving instantly. Had he been caught? Had he been cleverly cornered by a group of hostiles? Perfect, he thought; someone had come around to ruin his night of fun. Pulling his wand from his coat slowly, he attempted to survey the darkened area around him. Of course I would be too high to see anything out of the ordinary... EVERYTHING is out of the ordinary when you're high... His thoughts were much more frustrated with himself than he really was; simply he did not care too much.

"Who's there?" A calm voice came from his throat, dripping with a bit of a French accent he let slip out from time to time.</li>

It puzzled the Slytherin as to how exactly his best friend had gotten himself into this mess. After all, the Ravenclaw was just like any other girl. The fact that Aiden had fallen so hard and so completely for the young woman mystified JR, as he climbed the stairs to the owlery, where the two seventh years shared a buddy spot, a place where they each knew the other could be found when their was troubles brewing in their lives. Both shared a part of the same history, had a family out there somewhere, both with sisters that gained more attention from their parents than themselves ~ not that it was ever spoken of between the two friends. No, it had only been conversed about once, when they were both high and drunk. You could say that the two bonded over this, but that was necessarily true either, more that the two seventh years had been been there for each other throughout their entire school lives, settling into a pattern, which had eventually led to them being best friends. But this new predicament that Aiden had landed himself into, JR wasn't exactly sure how to feel about. They had both sworn so many times that there would be no girl that would get in the way of their friendship, that neither would get so wrapped up in a girl that they could be hurt by them somehow. It almost made the Slytherin laugh, how they had sworn to harden their hearts years ago so they couldn't get hurt. But even as he had been fifteen at the time, JR knew that it couldn't never had lasted.

Pushing the door of the owlery open, the young man's eyes adjusted to the dim light. Of course Aiden hadn't bothered, his mindset probably being that should anyone come 'round, it would be easier to hide whatever the Slytherin had on hand to edge the pain away. A floor board creaked as the seventh year moved across the wooden floor and he cringed. That was sure to alert his buddy that someone was here. Of course, the blasted owl that had just hooted wasn't helpful either. Whatever. Straining his eyes to where Aiden's voice came from, hidden away in their spot, the Slytherin's lips curled into a small grin. It was clear that the Slytherin was already half way gone, judging by the half drank bottle and the smoke that was already settling around them. Climbing the ladder to their spot, JR flopped down next to his friend. "Relax, dude, it's just me. Come on, hand it over, what goods did you snatch for us?" Reaching around the other boy, JR's fingers settled on another bottle of firewhisky and he grinned. Of course Aiden was intent on drinking the afternoon and night away.

It was a long time before JR spoke again, and it was only after a buzz was slowly seeping into the mind of the Slytherin. Settling back against a pillow, the seventeen year old looked at his friend fully for the first time, "So what happened this time?"

He had known just what happened, surely, for he had known the girl's friends to be quite the gossipers. Shaking his head at his friend, Aiden simply reached into his pocket for a simple cigarette, finding there no reason to be smoking all of his good medication too quickly. A grin finally parted his lips as he lit the cigarette and raised it to his mouth, offering JR one only after the fact. "I've nothing but a bit of medication, friend," The cigarette smoke filled his lungs as he took a rather long draw. Upon slowly pushing the smoke from his lungs, as the world around him began to slowly morph, Aiden cocked his head toward the other Slytherin. "And just some girl, who obviously is worth more trouble than anything." It was not true, and it was more than obvious that his housemate knew that he had been lying, but there was no reason to further the ridiculous hurt he had put himself through.

She had broken up with him, for his own stupidity, thus there being no reason to blame any of it on her; she was an innocent angel of whom had been fooled by his evil, devilish ways. Simply put he had done nothing but prayed upon her and her vulnerable self, even though such an ill move had been done rather subconsciously- and not to mention there had been a large amount of alcohol in his system. Ever since the day he had participated in the act, he had regretted it. The young man had never known just what it was to actually enjoy someone's company, to cherish their pure existence, until it was entirely too late.

There was nothing he could do to change her decision and, since that day in the corridor just outside of the Ravenclaw common room, he had not even caught a glimpse of the golden-haired cherub. Simply shrugging the matter off, he placed the cigarette up at his lips once more; it was easy to find comfort in such a petty thing and it was much more easier to hide and drown himself in such substances than it was to sit about and sulk. "She dumped me," The Frenchman spoke rather casually as his eyes returned to their view of the school grounds. "Of course it was my fault, wanting one last time with 'Cavia, I guess, but..." His thoughts overtook him and his voice trailed off. A half amused laugh got caught in his throat for a moment as he entertained just what he should say next; he had been debating just which route to take- the sad friend or the one who clearly did not give a care. "No, I am sure it was not going to work out. I am too.... free-spirited I guess?" A chuckle escaped him as the glow from his cigarette's end brightened up for a moment. "Probably should have listened to myself and the shit we said back then, hm?"

Aiden was slowly beginning to regret ever betraying the words each of them had agreed on just a couple of years ago; their big-headed fifteen year old selves had more than likely been right, on the subject of females, and he was ever confident that he should have kept his part of the pact. "And what of you? Haven't seen you about lately.... caught wind of something about you and Gryffindor." The grin upon his face deepened into a much more mischievous one, knowing full well he was prodding into something his friend would most likely not enjoy.</li>